Ten Years and Counting
by BloodDrinker1864
Summary: Valerie and Stefan, ten years into the future; all human. Christmas is a time of joy, food and of course family drama and surprises. The holidays just wouldn't be the same without it. One-shot


**Hey guys so I got thinking about Valerie and Stefan from the last episode and how they are together three years ahead and decided to bang out a story of them in their relationship. A little bit of character changes, some people are still alive, some are real family members e.c.t. All human**

 **Enjoy!**

 **December 25** **th** **2022**

It was Christmas morning. The sun was just starting to rise as the clock hit seven am. Valerie was asleep in bed enjoying every moment of it. She was snuggled up against her husband's warm chest and could hear the sound of his breathing, it was peaceful and she loved every minute of it. Until a loud noise jolted her out of her sleep. It was her baby. Crying. She rolled over and groaned and kicked her husband with her leg. He too rolled over to face her and groaned.

"Your turn" she mumbled under her breath as the baby still cried from the other room.

"No way" he said eyes still closed in the dark room. "I got her last time"

"Common" she said whining. "Its Christmas morning, and I'm just so warm and cozy in bed. Please" she said opening her eyes to look at her husband in the dark room. She could see his good features. His strong check bones, really kissable lips, and his really bad morning hair.

"Fine" Stefan said as he threw the covers off his body and got out of bed. Valerie watched him as he left the room and then heard him go down the hall to there daughters room. She would have stayed in bed much longer if her door wasn't suddenly burst open and a five-year-old boy came running in and then flopped down on the bed.

"Mom wake up it's Christmas!" he squealed as he stood up and started jumping on the bed. "Common mom wake up!"

"I am up hunny" she said fully opening her eyes and accepting that she would not get to fall back to sleep. "Mommy is just very tired"

"But its Christmas! Santa came you can't be tired" he said. "Now can we go downstairs and open up presents pleassseeeeeeeeee"

"Yes just wait for your father" she said sitting up in bed. Just then Stefan walked in holding there two year old daughter. She had a bright look on her face and it wasn't just because she had gotten Valerie's eye colour.

"Someone wants there mommy" Stefan said walking over to the bed and handing her there daughter.

"Hi sweetheart" she said holding onto her. "Are you ready for Christmas?" she asked as if she could understand.

"Can we go now?" the boy said getting inpatient.

"Yes Jacob you can go now" Stefan said. The boy got off the bed and flew down the stairs almost as fast as a vampire. Valerie placed her daughter Scarlett on the ground and let the tiny one stumble around walking in the room with her pacifier in her mouth and a stuffed bunny in her arms. She climbed out of bed and stretched her arms. She wore black silk pajamas and her hair was all messy but she knew her husband loved it anyways.

"Good morning" he said as he brought her into a kiss. It was blissful and what Valerie looked forward to every morning. She pulled back and whispered into Stefan's ear. "Merry Christmas"

"Shall we go open presents and eat some breakfast?" he suggested as he picked Scarlett up and headed for the stairs. "Breakfast first, I'm starving" she said. She gently placed her hand over her swollen stomach. Fourteen weeks and counting.

It had been ten years. Ten years since she had first meet Stefan. They had dated for a while, about three years before he had proposed to her. They had spent the next year planning there wedding and on October 3rd 2016 she had officially become Mrs. Valerie Salvatore. Almost immediately she had become pregnant and on July 9th 2017 Valerie gave birth to a healthy baby boy and they named him Jacob.

It was tough at first raising a child. Neither one of them really knew how to do it, but they soon got a hang of it. They loved Jacob so much, and he was so precious. Once Jacob turned two he became a handful and it became really hard for Stefan and Valerie. At that point in time Valerie had also gone through a miscarriage, the baby was nine weeks. It was a hard year for them and they wanted a fresh start. So after New Years in 2020 they moved out of the town that was right beside Mystic Falls and moved into a two story home in Chicago. Then they started trying again to expand their family. By March of that year Valerie was expecting another child, a baby girl to be exact and on December 1st of 2020 she gave birth to daughter Scarlett.

Flash forward another two years in the making. Valerie was a stay at home mother while Stefan worked for an agency. He had quite a bit of money left to him so there was no concern and troubles for that, but it wouldn't even matter as the two of them were so happy. Stefan's brother Damon always talked about how they would never last. Well he could take the comment and now shove it up his ass. She loved Stefan and hoped that she could spend another fifty years with him if possible. Ten years just wasn't enough. And to add to even more excitement, Valerie was now expecting her third child. They were going to keep the sex of the baby a secret till the birth but she secretly hoped for a girl. Stefan wanted a boy. The baby is due for June.

Valerie couldn't think of a better day. Her family by her side, joy, presents and food of course. Just then the doorbell rang. It was exactly 7:15 am right on time. She opened up the door to face her brother in law, his girlfriend, and her two sisters.

"Merry Christmas" Damon said stepping into the house and giving Valerie a kiss on the check.

"Merry Christmas" She said back taking some presents out of Damon's hand. "Elena dear, how is married life treating you?"

"Amazing, it's only been five months but it feels like forever" she said smiling holding onto Damon's arm showing off her flashy wedding ring.

"Good" Valerie said trying to act excited. She wasn't thrilled with Stefan's brother but she put up with him for the holidays. His wife on the other hand she really liked. Her and Elena had chick flicks and wine nights once a week. The gossiped about each others husband and their friends husbands as well, a typical girl night.

"Nora, Mary Louise" Valerie exclaimed as she made Damon step aside to let them in. "How are you guys?"

"Good. Nora just graduated from Nursing school and I just got this" Mary Louise said holding up her left hand. On her ring finger was a shiny diamond ring. It sparkled just like her eyes.

"Oh my gosh she proposed?"

"Yes" she said gushing. "Were hoping for a beach wedding, on an island sometime next year. I hope you and Stefan can make it"

"Well hopefully if Stefan's not working, and I don't look like a watermelon about to burst. She said hand on her stomach. I'm showing much quicker with this third baby on the way"

Valerie shut the door behind them and ushered them inside the house as they took of there winter coats and boots. Underneath there jackets they were all wearing pajamas. This was a tradition for them three years in the making, nobody was willing to get dressed Christmas morning so they made it a pajama party.

"So were do I put these?" Nora asked hands full of presents.

"Underneath the tree, now come in all of you. Stefan should be almost done making breakfast and the kids are just dying to see all of you guys"

They moved from the hallway down into the living room. There Stefan had started a fire in the fireplace and the Christmas tree was lit and full of presents. In the large window of there living room the sun was starting to rise and it looked wonderful and Valerie was certain she could smell pancakes coming from the kitchen.

It was finally Christmas morning, the last four weeks of stress and planning were over and now she could just relax on the couch, open presents, and feed her starving baby inside of her.

"Mommy, mommy can I open this one first?" Jacob said a present in hand. "Its from Auntie Nora"

"Of course you can dear" she said sitting on the couch beside Mary Louise. She watched in excitement as he ripped open the present and watched his little face light up at the gift in his hand. It was a new train set, he had become obsessed with trains in the last few months and the look on his face said it all. He loved it.

"Thank you sooooooo much Auntie Nora" Jacob said running over to hug her. "I love it"

"I'm glad daring" she replied back.

"Who's ready for breakfast?" Stefan called from the kitchen as he came out with a huge tray of pancakes on it. Valerie immediately jumped up from the couch and ran over to where he was setting them down. She grabbed four with a fork and put them on a plate alongside, bacon, toast and a cinnamon bun.

"Now everybody can have what's left over, thanks to you" Stefan whispered in her ear smiling. "Hey, this is your kid growing inside of me, and she demands food"

"You mean he demands food" he said kissing her on the check as everyone was still sitting on the couch opening up presents.

"You wish" she said. "It's a girl I can feel it"

"Alright" he said rolling his eyes not caring at what she thought. "And if it is a girl what is her name going to be?"

"Claude"

"That's a terrible name"

"Oh and what's your choice if it's a boy?" she replied back stuffing a heaping fork full of pancakes into her mouth.

"Quinn"

"That's even worse"

"Well we can discuss baby names at a later date, right now we have guests to entertain" He said pushing her back into the living room with everybody else.

She sat back down right beside Nora and Stefan sat beside her on the end of the couch. They watched Scarlett and Jacob open there presents first and then the rest of them opened theirs.

Elena sat back and opened up a gift from her husband Damon. She tore off the wrapping paper and opened up the box. She reached inside and pulled out a newborns onesie in the colour blue. Everybody had a confused look on there faces.

"Guys we have an announcement" Elena said with a big smile on her face. "Were pregnant!"

"Oh my god" Nora and Mary Louise squealed. "How far along are you?"

"Currently thirteen weeks"

"What!" Valerie said jumping off the couch. "I'm fourteen weeks were going to be due at the same time!" she ran over to where Elena was sitting and gave her a big hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay, the doctor said I was likely to miscarriage so I had to wait at least eleven weeks to be in the clear of that. I just didn't want to tell anybody earlier in case it did happen"

"That I understand. I was glad we didn't tell anybody when we got pregnant after Jacob, before Scarlett. I can't imagine what it would be like to tell people that you lost the baby after telling them your expecting" she said shaking her head.

"And even better news" Damon said chirping in with a big smile on his face. "It's a boy"

"So you're basically expecting a tiny version of yourself?" Stefan asked.

"Yep" he said filled with pride.

"That's exactly what we need, a tiny version of you" Valerie said going back to sit next to Stefan.

The morning went on just as planned. Everyone continued to open there presents as the sun fully rose and streamed into the windows filling it with light and happiness. The food was amazing, with Valerie going back for thirds and the entire day was just filled with joy and happiness. She had never seen her family more happy and didn't want it to end.

"There is one more gift left" Nora said as she stuck her arm underneath the tree to garb the small little box, it was for Valerie. "Val this on is for you" she said sliding over on the hardwood floors and handing her the small box. It read;

To: Valerie

Love, your husband

"I thought we said no expensive gifts" she groaned as she opened up the wrapping paper leaving a tiny box. The top was engraved with the name of a high end jewelry company.

"It wasn't _that_ expensive" Stefan said. "Just open it"

Valerie snapped open the box and what she was inside made her gasp. There was a gold band and on it there was a pyramid of diamonds. One at the top, two in the middle and three at the bottom.

"Oh my god" she said mouth still wide open. "Its amazing"

"And I thought it should mean something as well" he said. "The first diamond is for the one and true love that we have for each other, the two diamonds are for the two of us, and the three diamonds are for our three beautiful, and amazing children" Valerie was in tears.

She wrapped her hands around Stefan's neck and pulled him in for a huge kiss. She almost immediately pulled back. "Oh my gosh" she said pulling Stefan's hand onto her stomach. "I can feel the baby kicking for the first time" Stefan sat there his hand placed on his wife's stomach listening to his third child kick inside of her.

This life that they had built together was incredible. With there three kids, there home and love for one another that was all they ever needed. And as Stefan slipped the ring onto her ring finger on her right hand he knew this what we wanted for the rest of his life, and the same was for her.

This was definitely the best Christmas ever.

 **Please REVIEW xoxo**


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